“It’s friendly competition when we play Belmont now that they’re not in our league,” said Lipscomb head coach Jeff Forehand. “It’s always fun to win and I thought we played well tonight.”

Belmont (23-8) drew first blood in the contest of the two former Atlantic Sun Conference foes with a run in the top of the first. A strong throw from Lipscomb junior left fielder Drew Adams kept it from being a 2-0 lead for the Bruins right out of the gate with a laser to the plate that gunned down Alec Diamond.

The Bisons (12-22) answered right back in the bottom of the stanza to tie the game 1-1 when senior right fielder Lee Wilson came home on a RBI by senior third baseman Aaron Sandoval. Lipscomb then added another tally in the second inning as Wilson brought junior centerfielder Chad Shannon home with a groundout to take the 2-1 lead.

That score would hold until the eighth inning when mounted a two-out rally to tie the game 2-2.

Lipscomb would again answer right back in the bottom of the frame as the Bruins loaded the bases and walked in a run as Wilson drew a six-pitch base-on-balls. Senior catcher Taylor Stewart then delivered what would eventually be the game-winning hit with a double to left field that scored Shannon and Gray Hutchinson.

“Taylor had a big at bat to push us out and give us some cushion,” said Forehand. “The game kind of blew up on us a bit in the ninth inning and that would have been a lot more difficult if it would have been a one-run game.”

The Bruins would mount a rally in the ninth inning pushing across a run on Ashcraft, who came on to close out the game in the top of the ninth. With the bases loaded and the tying run at second base, Ashcraft was able to notch his second save of the season by fanning the last two Belmont batters.

Senior righty Tyler Burstrom earned the win in relief tossing the seventh and eighth innings. The veteran gave up one run and two hits while striking out four Bruins. Jessie Snodgrass took the loss for Belmont giving up three earned runs, four hits and two walks in 1.2 innings of action

The Bisons hit the road this weekend for a three-game A-Sun series at in-state foe ETSU beginning on Friday night in Johnson City.